The Daily Dose: We can blame YouTube for all the Flat-Earthers and Anti-vaxxers, study

Touching from a distance: A new study suggests that Neanderthals may have been able to kill from a distance by throwing spears. Recent consensus has been that Neandertal‘s only stabbed because of the weight of their weapons. Testing with humans reinforces that idea. However when javelin throwers were tasked with launching Neandertal spears they were able to hit their targets roughly 25% of the time, suggesting the ancient hominins also used them as projectiles. http://bit.ly/2ElIP7E

Solving the Born Rule conundrum: European researchers claim to have solved how the Born Rule an be derived from fundamental quantum theoretical principles. According to the Lluis Masanes at the University College London, ““We derive all the properties of measurements in quantum theory: what the questions are, what the answers are, and what the probability of answers occurring are.” The Born Rule is viewed as the bridge linking the abstract mathematics of quantum theory with real world experimentation. http://bit.ly/2V8XAA6

Dodged a bullet: A new study argues that roughly half a billion years ago, the magnetic field protecting the Earth’s atmosphere from damaging solar rays experienced its weakest state in history. Had the atmosphere been damaged, the Earth could have suffered Mars’ fate. Thankfully, Earth’s liquid-iron inner core crystallized, a process geophysicists call “nucleation,” and saved the magnetosphere. http://bit.ly/2V9EolS

Philippines kicks Sanofi where it hurts: The Philippines has revoked the marketing license for Sanofi’s anti-Dengue vaccine, Denvaxia. The country was the first to employ the vaccine in mass vaccinations of children. Only after injecting hundreds of thousands of children did the company reveal that for patients that had not had Dengue yet, it actually caused worse cases of Dengue and did not protect them. http://bit.ly/2V9EV7m

Thanks a lot, YouTube: Finally, a recent study has looked at the proliferation of Flat-Earth believers and concluded that YouTube bears much of the blame. In general terms, the online streaming website enabled conspiracy theories to be accepted as fact, giving rise to the belief that the Earth Is flat, the moon landing was faked, and various 9/11 counter theories. http://bit.ly/2V9LfLR

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